The Chief Minister says the government is reviewing its position on masks and whether to make them mandatory in some places.

They're becoming mandatory in shops and on public transport in England and Guernsey because of uncertainty around the new Omicron Covid-19 variant.

That decision has not been made in Jersey yet, but it is being looked at by Ministers.

They're still strongly recommended inside public spaces, like shops and supermarkets, where it's more difficult to distance safely and where ventilation is poorer.

Senator John Le Fonde says they have to make sure to only mandate masks when it's justifiable.

"Making masks mandatory is then making it a legal requirement and ultimately if a sanction is ever taken, you're criminalising people.

The bar to making that decision is set at a certain level, so one has to make sure that it is right and appropriate to do so.

That's why at this stage, we've said, and we have been saying for a number of weeks, we strongly recommend that masks should be worn, we continue to recommend that.

The act of review means that we need to understand the legal technicalities, we need to understand from a proportionality point of view when that is then justifiable, and that's a decision we've got to go through the process on.

There are some technicalities around it, which we've got to consider and we've got to consider exceptionally seriously because it is quite an important step, and it is around the proportionality, in the context that we have, as of yesterday, 8 people in hospital."

It became strongly recommended again earlier this month following the increase in Covid-19 cases.

Dr. Ivan Muscat says they need to keep the measures under continual review.

Senator Le Fondre says voluntary take-up could be much better than it is.

"It varies. Some of the ones (shops) I've been into, the staff are wearing masks or visors and generally, customers are respecting that which I think is good.

There have been others where I've gone in and I thought actually the take-up has been poor.

It does feel like in certain areas it's improving, but I think we could be doing much more.

We're in the winter season, it is a very minor inconvenience, and it does, as far as we are concerned, have an impact on reducing transmission."

In a media briefing, Ministers announced a series of measures in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

From Friday 3 December, all arrivals from outside the Common Travel Area will have to isolate until getting a negative test, regardless of their vaccination status.

Any direct contacts of the new variant in Jersey will have to isolate for ten days.

No cases of Omicron have been found yet, but Health Minister Deputy Richard Renouf says it undoubtedly will at some stage.

"Like Delta (variant), we do anticipate this variant to reach us, and so we are taking steps now to ensure we have the necessary measures in place."

13 cases have been found in England, with nine picked up in Scotland.

There are 1,285 known, active cases of coronavirus in Jersey.

Nine people with Covid are being treated in hospital.